All the numbers behind the matric 2023 results

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga with South Africa’s top matric learner for 2023, Melissa Müller from Rhenish Girls' High School, at the announcement of the matric results for 2023. Picture Kamogelo Moichelo / IOL

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga with South Africa’s top matric learner for 2023, Melissa Müller from Rhenish Girls' High School, at the announcement of the matric results for 2023. Picture Kamogelo Moichelo / IOL

Published Jan 18, 2024

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On Thursday night, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced the 2023 matric results which showed a historic pass rate of 82.9%

This was an increase from 80.1% in 2022 and 76.4% in 2021.

Here are some of the other notable numbers to emerge from the 2023 matric results:

Enrollment and Examination Overview:

  • A total of 897,775 candidates, both full-time and part-time, enrolled for the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations in 2023.
  • The examinations involved 162 question papers, with 10.2 million printed and 9.6 million scripts produced.
  • Exam administration was extensive, involving 6,898 examination centres, 72,500 invigilators, and 52,500 markers across 184 marking centres.

Candidate Age Profile:

  • 88.2% of full-time and 47.8% of part-time candidates were aged 16-20.

Grade Progression:

  • From the 1.2 million students who enrolled in Grade 1 in 2012, 740,566 progressed to Grade 12 in 2023.
  • By October 2023, 715,719 candidates had enrolled for the NSC exams.

Full-time vs Part-time Candidates:

  • Of the total enrollees, 715,719 were full-time, and 182,056 were part-time candidates.

Progressed Learners:

  • 54,943 progressed learners enrolled, with 49,866 writing all seven subjects.
  • 22,688 progressed learners passed, representing 45.5% of those who wrote all subjects.
  • These learners achieved 3,147 Bachelor, 8,828 Diploma, and 10,680 Higher Certificate admissions, plus notable distinctions.

Special Education Needs Learners:

  • 5,458 learners with special needs enrolled, with 5,288 writing the exams.
  • 4,581 of these learners passed, achieving various levels of academic success, including 2,072 distinctions.

Impact of 'Pro-Poor' Policies:

  • Significant improvement in Bachelor passes from schools previously considered poorly performing, reaching over 65% in 2023.
  • Quintiles 1-3 schools saw 379,917 passes, with 174,676 Bachelor passes.

Social Grant Recipients:

  • 543,786 social grant recipients wrote the exams, with a pass rate of 81.2%.
  • This group achieved 202,156 Bachelor passes, indicating a 2.1% improvement from 2022.

Correctional Facility Candidates:

  • 137 out of 147 full-time candidates in correctional facilities passed, with 93.2% achieving Bachelor, Diploma, or Higher Certificate passes.

Gender Aggregation:

  • 56.4% of candidates were female, with both genders showing an 82.9% pass rate.
  • Female candidates attained 66.4% of the distinctions.

District-Level Performance:

  • No district had a pass rate below 60%, with top districts exceeding 80%.
  • Johannesburg West in Gauteng led with 92.5%.

Provincial Performance:

  • The Free State led with an 89.0% pass rate.
  • Significant improvements were noted in Limpopo (7.4% increase) and Eastern Cape (4.1% increase).

Overall NSC Results:

  • The 2023 NSC overall pass rate reached 82.9%.
  • A record number of 282,894 candidates qualified for Bachelor studies.
  • The Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Limpopo produced a significant portion of Bachelor passes and distinctions.

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